2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Community-engaged research (CER) has the potential to meet multiple objectives including yielding real benefits for communities, novel research findings, and career benefits for faculty. CER differs from traditional scholarship of discovery in important ways and is particularly relevant in environmental engineering to advance community health and well-being. However, a key concern relates to how CER is evaluated and rewarded during review, promotion, and tenure (RPT). This paper explores issues related to CER valuation during faculty RPT in environmental engineering (EnvE). Previous research found that faculty working at institutions that were classified as Community Engaged (CE) by Carnegie had more positive perceptions that CER was understood and rewarded in the RPT process. Currently, about half of the 100 institutions offering ABET-accredited EnvE degrees are designated as CE by Carnegie. These degrees are offered from departments that include disciplines beyond EnvE which may present challenges during RPT. Interviews with women who conduct CER describe differences in how CER was valued during RPT. Some of the women had explicitly conducted a blend of CER and non-CER as a strategy to obtain tenure. A few had changed institutions to find a location that embraced and valued CER. Others were questioning whether academia was the best route to benefit communities. Finally, the paper provides examples of institutional RPT policies and criteria that explicitly recognize CER.